


The Blanket Thief

by Gloomier



Series: Tea's Fic Funbox [5]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff, M/M, Winter in Erebor, blanket fort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 10:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12981852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gloomier/pseuds/Gloomier
Summary: Winter has come again to the Lonely Mountain and someone has been stealing blankets and pillows.





	The Blanket Thief

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost of a ficlet I wrote for the Bagginshield Alphabet, all polished up. It was one of the few of that challenge I really liked and thought it deserved a work of its own. Enjoy!
> 
>  [ My Tumblr](https://tea-blitz.tumblr.com/)

It was Bilbo's second winter living in the mountain and he absolutely loathed it; a fact that Thorin has slowly come to realize.

Reconstruction had progressed incredibly well, and while Dwarves are very kind to the resident Hobbit, the winters seem to be dreadful. Shire winters are very tame—except for the one fell winter Bilbo had told them about—compared to the winters this region experiences, and Bilbo has never seen so much snow in his entire life. There's a lot of it, and in many spots snow drifts end up as tall as a Dwarf (or Hobbit), sometimes even taller. Last winter Fíli and Kíli had managed to drag the Hobbit outside the day after a particularly aggressive snow storm hit the mountain, when he had mentioned that he’d like to get some fresh air.

In their excitement, Fíli and Kíli had lost sight of the Burglar. Bilbo had gotten lost in the drifts and by the time the miscreants had found him an hour and a half later, Bilbo had gone blue with chill. It was a miracle that the Hobbit hadn’t lost any toes or fingers to frostbite.

This winter Bilbo was adamant that he would stay in his rooms, claiming that he’d hibernate through the winter if it meant he didn't have to step outside again until spring was upon them.

Lately there have been strange occurrences.

Since the restoration of the palace things have gone missing, and not the valuable sort of items either, but the thick furs, blankets, and pillows from many of the rooms have seemingly vanished. Even now Thorin was sitting in an emergency council meeting—why it had to be a full assembly was beyond him—to address the odd issue. Yes, winter made it a little more difficult to deal with such an issue, but there was no reason for everyone to get their breeches in a bunch.

Thorin sighed irritably.

The screeching of the council members gave him a migraine, and Thorin spent more time shooting Balin pleading looks rather than listening to the nobles complain that even their blankets and pillows were beginning to disappear. He was quite aware of the blanket thief, but Thorin didn't have the heart to tell anyone that so far every room but his own had been burgled.

Until today.

It had taken quite a bit of shouting and some unimpressed glares from Balin—Mahal bless him—to finally get out of the unnecessary gathering of noble wind bags. As Thorin turned the corner going into the corridor where his chambers were, he was met with a peculiar sight. Bilbo had a nice pile of blankets and furs in his arms, a pillow tucked under each, struggling to shut the door to the king's chambers. Finally managing to shut the door, Bilbo waddled over to the next door which led to his own rooms. Watching him balance the pile and open a door was comical to say the least, Thorin had a difficult time holding in his mirth.

Once the hall was clear Thorin made a beeline straight to Bilbo's chambers. He twisted the door knob slowly, pressing the door open just enough for him to slip quietly into the receiving room, and closed the door behind him. If Bilbo burgling him was an odd sight then he certainly had no words to explain what he was witnessing now.

In the middle of the parlor there lay an enormous mound of all the stolen blankets, furs, and pillows the nobles had been whining about. Bilbo was stuffing his newly procured items into the mound through a hobbit sized opening in the side. Thorin wasn't quite sure how to react, the scene was a bit surreal, but he could feel the beginnings of a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

“What in Mahal's name is this?” He exclaimed with mock surprise. Thorin was finding it incredibly difficult to keep the amusement out of his voice.

“Oh!” Bilbo yelped and spun around to face Thorin. The abject horror on Bilbo’s face was very satisfying for Thorin. “Thorin! Ahem. Well you see—”

Thorin, still inspecting the architecture of the mound—which is rather good he noticed—gently interrupted Bilbo’s panicked spluttering.

“I've been wondering where it's all been going.” he said, rubbing his chin in consideration of the mound as he circled it.

Bilbo cleared his throat nervously, clearly expecting to be yelled at for his thievery. “It's cold you see, and we Hobbits don't fancy the winter.”

After completing a full circle around the mound, Thorin ended his tour at Bilbo’s side, turning to eyes down on to Bilbo at last. There were a myriad of expressions ghosting over Bilbo’s face until it settled on bewilderment when Thorin addressed him again.

“Are you not going to invite me in?” Thorin smiled, gesturing toward the opening of the mound that Bilbo had just been stuffing blankets and pillows into it.

It looked like Bilbo was torn between fleeing the room or burrowing into his  nest of appropriated bed clothes. After a moment of uncomfortable shuffling Bilbo seemed to catch on that he wasn’t in trouble.

“My apologies. Would you like to come in?” Bilbo asked, a hesitant smile spread across his face as he pulled open the blanket that was covering the little opening to the den.

“I would love to,” Thorin replied, grinning, and stepped forward to crawl into the little opening.

The mystery of the disappearing blankets, furs, and pillows, while put to bed, had never been unraveled.


End file.
